Ring Out Wild Bells

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

—Alfred, Lord Tennyson

"Ring Out Wild Bells." Can I just say, I hate that hymn. With the fiery passion of a thousand suns. Ok, maybe not that much. Quite. But it's just never seemed to fit in church for me. I love Tennyson. I love the poem the words come from. I even don't mind the minor key. In theory.

But somehow, when you combine the minor key with the line "the year is dying in the night, ring out wild bells and let him die" -- well, somehow the whole package just doesn't scream "worship service" to me. And so the song has bothered me for years.

Today, though, we sang it. And it wasn't as horrible as I remembered. It's not ever going to be on my top 10 favorite hymns list, or even my top 50, but it was ok. Really. And here's why: the final note of the final verse. Just one change, F to F#, resolves the minor key and ends the song on a much more pleasant major cord. (I beg forgiveness from my musically educated friends if my terminology here is off.) The point is, just one little change is all it took to completely alter the tone of the piece. Such a small change, only a half step difference between the "before" and "after" cords. But that half step, small as it is, is huge.

And what better New Year's message is there than that? Just one little change, just one small improvement, just one tiny resolution (when kept) really can make ALL the difference in the world. And that is a very, very hopeful thought.